As I explained here, I have discovered the joys of the Jennie-O Turkey Pot Roast. It takes ten minutes to prepare one — from fridge to microwave to your plate — and they're really good. I'd even buy them if they didn't fit so neatly into my life.
Ever since my weight reduction surgery, it's vital that I control when I dine. I eat a lot less but I need to eat at certain moments or nagging headaches can result. The more say I have over when that happens, the better…ergo, having a couple of Jennie-O Pot Roasts on hand is a good thing. Lots of quick protein and it ain't fast food. When my day gets out of my control as it sometimes does, it's nice to have something that's easy to prepare, healthy and inexpensive. I get 4-5 meals out of one and a whole one costs about nine bucks. The Jennie-O company makes them for sale at Costco…and at the moment, nowhere else.
So everything is great, right? Nope. The Costcos in Southern California have all put this product on their "deleted" lists, meaning they're no longer ordering 'em. I found this out today by talking with a vast number of Costco employees at both their corporate offices and at individual warehouses. Of the five Costcos nearest to me, four stopped carrying my beloved Turkey Pot Roasts a few months ago….and now the fifth has joined in, opted out, left me roastless. In a semi-panic, I called around today and a nice lady at the Costco in Hawthorne checked her computer and told me it was a deleted item and that they had their last 22 in the display case. I said, "I'll come by tomorrow and stock up."
She said, "Don't dawdle. We started the day with 30 and we've sold eight so far." Well naturally, I decided not to risk waiting 'til tomorrow. I hopped in my car and sped to Hawthorne.
When I got there, I hurried directly to the rear of the store. I was afraid that if I stopped to look at anything else on the way, I'd get to the refrigerated section only to find someone putting the last T.P.R. into his or her cart. As it turned out, I arrived none too soon: They had but ten in the display case. These things are selling pretty damn well for an item they've decided not to carry…though that may be because they have the market cornered in this part of the L.A. basin. My phoning around did also yield the information that there were 15 still in stock (their last fifteen) at the Costco in Van Nuys but I went to Hawthorne because it was closer and because they had more.
Hawthorne now has zero and I have ten Jennie-O Turkey Pot Roasts in my refrigerator. That's about a two month supply for me…one which coincides nicely with the "Use by this date" sticker on them. Unless I find a new supply, I will exhaust my supply the final week in March. Perhaps I will enjoy my last-ever Jennie-O Turkey Pot Roast with a bowl of the Creamy Tomato Soup which will be a soup of the month at Souplantation in March before it too becomes unavailable again.
Still, all may not be lost. The Costco folks told me that other Costcos — ones not convenient to me — are ordering more Turkey Pot Roasts from Jennie-O. You may want to find out if one near you carries them. I did not know until today how easy it is to phone the Customer Service people at your local Costco and ask them to look up their current inventory on any product they carry. If you inquire about the Jennie-O Turkey Pot Roast, you can speed things along with the Costco item number, which is 39249. If you like them, tell the folks at Costco. It can't hurt.